can someone walk me through how i set up my lattice for deformation on my character once it is skinned? using set driven keys i mean? if there is a way to adjust the verticies on the lattice and be able to key that taht would be fantastic. i just see this as being faster than using "add influence" hope you folks can help thanks

If you want your lattice to follow your skeleton as part of the rig you have to remove the affected vertices from your deformer sets(window/relationship editors/deformer sets). Otherwise you'll get double transformation on these vertices when the lattice moves with the rig. You can skin your lattice to get it to deform though.
I don't have this totally fresh in mind so it's hard to talk you through it, but if you want I'll help you out further.

edit: Oh, Just realized you didn't ask for how to get the lattice to work, rather how to animate it... Well, you can keyframe the lattice points, so I guess (haven't tried) you could use SDK on them too.

thisis whati figured
i figured i would select my verts after weighting is done. add a lattice to the verts like on a wrist. parent the lattice to the wrist joint, select the verts set them as the driven. i just tried this and only a few of the verts are moving with my lattice now. what do you do , canyou give me steps? thanks

you've got the right idea but your setup is jumbled. after skinning, create your lattices and parent the lattice and the lattice base to the corresponding joint. from there you need to make a decision, will the lattice change:

a) shape or b) transforms (rotate scale translate).

SDK will be used to drive these attributes remember that you're apply SDK to the lattice itself or its blend node rather than the individual vertices.

if you need the lattice to morph into a specific shape then use blendshapes and drive the blend with SDK. for example: create the lattice > parent the lattice and its base to the joint > duplicate the lattice > rotate the joint > shape the original lattice > select the duplicate lattice, then the original and create a blendshape > open up SDK and set the joint as the driver and the lattice's blendshape node as the driven > when the joint is at zero rotation the blend's value should be at 1 and when at X degrees it should be at 0.

you can also use a blend shape that has multiple sources to smooth out the effect (such as an elbow).

same setup if you just want to scale rotate and translate the lattice: just remember that you're driving the lattice object and not the vertices themselves.

mi mental, i was thinking blend shapes on lattice last night, but its so much more work i yiyi. well your right i realy like your idea it still is goign to be faster than setting up little pieces of geormetry for every verticie i have. i was just followign the skinning 4 dvd from gnomon. i like everythign about that just takes to long well im going to do what you said blend shapes cause acutally that will be pleanty fast , not a problem i just scared that it was goign to take hours and hours like when i did the add influence objects ugh. well thanks tons cause thats a great idea plus you gave me steps on how to do it thanks man.

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